A conventional video signal processing device includes exclusive circuits and exclusive memories for processing respective sorts of video signals.
To be specific, for example, a device for second generation extended definition television (hereinafter referred to as "HD2") has exclusive logic circuits, and exclusive memories of First-In First-Out (FIFO) and Look-Up Table (LUT), for processing respective kinds of signals (see "National TECHNICAL REPORT Vol. 41, No. 4, PP. 420, FIG. 11").
As described above, for example, to process kinds of video signals, such as ED2 and MUSE, a television receiver needs to include respective exclusive logic circuits and exclusive memories. For this reason, if a new broadcast format is created, another exclusive circuit is needed to develop for it. A period needed for developing such an exclusive circuit can be shorten if gate arrays are combined more than if a full-customized integrated circuit is manufactured, to create the exclusive circuit. In the former case, yet the period is too long. Moreover, once the circuit has been developed, it is hard to amend it, and so, if a bug is found in the circuit, the problem is serious.
To avoid those situations, we came up with a conception of a device including an array of operating elements, storage units, and a network connecting the operating elements and the storage units, all of which works according to commands from the outside, and processing video signals in a way suited to their respective sorts by changing programs downloaded to the array of operating elements.